ABERDEEN v Hibernian

[cougared]

What if i take a shot from the centre circle middle of pitch and 3 of my team mates are in front of the ball just ahead of me.
The ball hits the goalies post and 1 of my players had sprinted up the park and knocked in the rebound.

Were they interfeering with play and therefore offside? Surely not.

If

a) they were in the opponents' half
b) there were no other defenders between them and the goalie

they were offside. Goal should be disallowed. Even if the keeper had saved it and the goal was scored from the rebound - offside.

if the keeper saved it and had a couple of touches before losing possession - onside.

[Goalposter]

Yeah but my players werent interfeering with play.

I took a shot from the centre circle.

My intentions had nothing to do with them whatsoever.
They werent even moving forward.
The ball had just come to me..i saw the keeper off his line and shot.
No way could they be interfeering with play.
You could argue they had a territorial advantage over the opposition i guess.

Hmm.

[krakowdon]

Depends whether you were wearing an Aberdeen shirt (offside) or not (onside) obviously.

It’s in the laws of the game. Any Scottish referee must exercise discretion against Aberdeen at every opportunity.

[cougared]

The do not need to be "interfering with play" at the time the ball is played. It is however relevant that, when they became active - ie banged in the ball after it hit the post - it was the same passage of play and so they WERE without doubt offside.

The most important criteria of offside is whether or not:

they were in front of the ball when played
they were in the opposition half of the field
there were fewer than two opposition players between them and the opposition goal line.

If those criteria are fulfilled, the referee and lino will then decide if the were actively involved in that passage of play. There is - I think - no clear definition of a "passage of play" - but in the example you gave - shot, hit post not touched by any other player. They ARE offside.

There are a few dodgy ones. Eg - player A injured on opposition penalty spot. His defender bangs the ball wide right ofor Speedy Gonzales (Player to run on to. Opposition defence on half way line turn but not a hope of catching old speedy. Speedy gets the ball before the keeper and bangs it into the middle where aforementioned A (who was behind the ball when player B banged it in to the middle) jumps up and bangs it into the net.

Offside or not? I'd say "Yes" but a lot of refs would say "No". Reason - was it the same passage of play? Subjective not objective. Would VAR help? No.